Garrison University
by hashtagmrfluff
Summary: Lance, Hunk, Keith, and Pidge are all finally out of High School, and have made their way into Garrison University; one of the best science schools around. Told from Lance's and Keith's P.O.V. they figure out their ways around the schools and their new lives. Lance wants to get to know Keith more, and Keith wants to try to become a little more social. Can they help each other out?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Lance

My friends stood by me as we took our first steps through the gates leading to Garrison University. Keith, Pidge, and Hunk, to be exact. We had been through thick and thin together working our butts off night after night to get into this prestigious school together and it had all paid off. One of the best colleges on Earth and we were all going to it together. It was a dream come true! (That is, if a beautiful lady was also involved in it.)

"Lance? LANCE!" Hunk shouted, snapping me out of my beautiful woman daze. "Already taken a trip to wonderland? How about you do that after we get settled into our rooms."

Pidge adjusted her glasses, "Yeah. We can't lolly-gag around. We have class tomorrow and we aren't even set up yet!"

I looked over too Keith to see what he would say, but her just shrugged and looked off towards the school. Classic Keith.

"Don't worry! We'll be totally fine!" I told them, "Besides, it's just the first day and our classes don't start until around 10, so we'll have plenty of time in the morning."

Hunk sighed and said, "All I want is some grub. That was a long bus ride and now I'm hungry."

"Same here." Pidge agreed with our big friend, "We should drop everything off in our rooms and then go eat something."

Nodding, I said, "Alright. Keith, Hunk, and I are in the male dormitories, and Hunk and I are roommates, so we'll go get set up." I turned to Keith, "I'll text you once we're done so you can meet up with us. Sound cool?"

Keith shrugged again and closed his eyes, relaxed, "Yeah, sure, whatever."

"And Pidge," Hunk started, "I'll text you once we're done too."

"Sounds like a plan. I'm going to go now, since my short legs can't go as far as yours can." Pidge waved to us and made her way towards the girl's dormitory.

"Well, bye, I guess?" Keith tried to say, but Pidge had already gotten out of range. I was surprised Lance tried to say goodbye to her at all! He never talked much to anyone, even us, his best friends. Although I wouldn't consider him my _best_ friend. Even "friend" was a stretch. He was so reclusive to us I didn't get to know him much, he just hung out with us senior year of high school and kind of stuck with us since then.

After an awkward silence Hunk decided we should probably head to the dorms, so Hunk pioneered ahead of us, leaving Keith and I next to each other following behind Hunk. Maybe now could be a good time for me to get to know Keith a bit more? Possibly, if Keith would even let me talk to him.

"So… How was your summer Keith?" I was being way too nice with that question. Keith just acted so… Carefree. It kind of sickened me. I needed to take it up a notch. "I bet you didn't do anything, since we're your only friends!"

Surprisingly, Keith wasn't mad at that sentence. Actually, he seemed happy! UGH! He infuriated me! "Wow. You're my friends?" Keith looked at me with shining eyes. In reality, he wasn't _that_ infuriating. Actually, his cool brown eyes were nice to look at.

Did I just think that?

Oh God, now I'm staring at him…

Does he care if I am?

Of course he does! He's a… sane… person… and besides, no one likes another person staring at them!

"Uh… Lance? Are you okay? Is there… uh… something in my teeth?" Keith brought me back down to Earth.

I shook my head, "No, uh, it's nothing." I turned away, facing forward towards Hunk's back again. _Why do I feel so hot? It's not uncomfortable talking to Keith usually. He makes the conversations awkward most of the time, so why did it feel so difficult to talk to him now?_

Looking at Keith, I noticed he turned away from me and was looking off the other direction. There were tons of students sitting around and talking under trees and on benches. Big, low clouds hovered overhead and it was about noon. Good thing the clouds were there or else the sun would probably be unbearable, since it was a warm September day.

Like always, Keith was wearing his red jacket and a plain t-shirt underneath it. Today his pants were the same too. Jeans. Like always. Did he have a wardrobe consisting of the same outfit for everyday of the week or something? But to be honest I had the same outfit planned for every day of the week, so that wasn't much of a difference between us.

"That's pretty weird…" I accidently said out loud, not realizing it until Keith looked over at me with a questioning face.

"What is? You?" He replied.

Ooooo… That was a good one. What would I return with something as good as that? "No, um… I wasn't…" I tried to come up with something on the spot.

My fumbling with words caught Keith by surprise, making him smirk a little before hiding it after he realized he was smiling. "Whatever." He said before turning away from me again.

He… SMILED? Keith never did that! Not even at my best jokes! What did I say that made him act like that? Let's see… Was it really me skipping on my words that made him smile? That couldn't be it…

"Hey Lance?" Keith said. Oh God, what was he going to say? Did he finally figure out what was weird about my staring before? He continued, "Why do you wear the same clothes everyday? Do you wash them everyday or do you have other outfits?"

HE READ MY FLIPPING MIND. How could he… I found myself at a loss for words and staring at Keith yet again. "I… uh… could ask you the same thing! You wear the same _stupid_ red jacket every single day!"

Looking forward, he plainly said, "I have a lot of the same outfits for every day of the week. It's not that strange."

Hunk stopped in front of us, right in front of the guy's dorms' door. There seemed to be three stories of rooms and people were bustling in and out with stuff for their rooms. Some of them even brought small furniture! I only packed my sets of clothes and some small knick-knacks I had from my place. Sharing a room with two other people didn't give me much space to put many things…

"We have made it!" Hunk shouted. Raising his hand in the air heroically like he was retelling a battle, he said, "After being stuck in high school, we have graduated to another world of torture and studying!" Getting quieter and leaning in to tell us something privately, he whispered, "That Pidge will hopefully help us with."

"Ha!" I laughed, "I never needed help with _my_ homework!"

Keith scratched his head, "What? You _always_ needed her help. I'm surprised you passed high school with a passing grade."

Infuriated, I wanted to shoot back at him, but Hunk ignored our slight side conversation entirely. "Better get settled in then! Since Lance and I are bunking together this semester, we'll be heading off to our room. Wish you luck with your roommate Keith!"

And I was yanked unexpectedly by Hunk and dragged into the Dorms, leaving Keith dumbfounded at what had just happened and standing by himself in front of the Dorms.

Sometimes Keith could be a little too… Blatant. But somehow… I kind of found it cool?

Hunk and I were located on the second floor, a few rooms away from the stairs, which gave us easy access to the campus grounds and main courtyard. The male dormitories were located next to the science building and the mess hall, which made Hunk believe it was a sign from God himself. (Hunk was maybe a little too crazy for food, but I didn't judge.)

The room was small, and two twin-sized beds beckoned for us to put our things on them. I didn't think too much of it, but as soon as Hunk stepped through the door he shouted, "OH MY GOSH THIS PLACE IS AMAZING!" and 'hunk'ered down on the bed. Get it? Eh? Eh? I know, you can't resist me, not many can.

"Well, it is a nice upgrade from sharing a room with two people. Now I only share it with one." And I flopped down my stuff onto the bed Hunk hadn't claimed.

"Yeah?" He responded whilst unpacking his stuff. "I suppose, since your family is, like, crazy big."

I nodded, "I already miss them a little. Is that weird?"

"Nah." He told me, turning around and placing a hand on my shoulder. "They probably are missing you too."

Giving him a smile, I turned back to my suitcase and emptied my things out. I took hangers from in the closet and hung my several jackets on the rack inside. There was also a shelf on the inside, so I put my bag of shampoo and soap on it. Needed that for the showers. I unpacked a family portrait as well, and then set on a small end table that sat next to my bed.

Taking the sheets I had in my bag out, I fitted my bed with them and heaved a sigh of relief. I was moving on up in the world, and being that I was training to work in space, I wouldn't be moving up in the world, but instead moving _off_ of it.

Hunk and Pidge were going into the same field that I was, so we'd hopefully work side by side together in the future. Garrison University was known for its space training and science programs, so that was the main reason why we enrolled here. As for Keith… I didn't know what he wanted to do with his life. Something about Keith had always interested me, but I could never quite figure it out. That's why I wanted to get to know him better.

Well, not quite the only reason I wanted to learn more about him, I mean, Keith was an enigma to me! I barely knew _anything_ about him! All I knew was he was a loner through most of high school before he met us, and even then he kept himself mostly separated from the three of us. He'd never really talked and we had to openly start a conversation with him to get anything out of him. He never carried a conversation though, and made everything awkward by giving quick one-line responses and seamlessly ending the conversation.

Maybe I could try talking to him more? Inviting him to hang out sometime? What did Keith even like to do? Gah! To learn what he liked, I would need to get to know him! This was a multi-step process and the steps were only growing!

This is why I stuck with my main three friends and didn't talk to many people. Too much friend building involved. And making friends needed tender care, like, twenty-four seven. Did I really just use 'tender care' in a sentence? Oh no, I can't be growing soft. Not like Keith! His mellowness is rubbing off on me now! I should just keep things the way they were, Keith not talking and me ignoring him. Simple enough, right?

"Alright!" Hunk interrupted my train of thought, "I think I'm done now. Wanna text Keith and tell him we're ready?"

I thought about the complications for a second, but then my suave managed to take over. Nothing would happen! Everything would stay perfectly fine and nothing would go wrong! "Sure." I replied, whipping out my phone and sending Keith a quick text.

 ** _Lance:_** _We r done. Where do u wanna meet?_

"We gotta wait for where Keith wants us to meet up first. Texting him now." I told Hunk. He replied with thumbs up and I returned to my phone as Keith's text tone played. It was literally just three low notes on a scale, like Keith's actual social standings. Low.

 ** _Keith:_** _Right outside? My room wouldn't be much to look at._

I replied right away,

 ** _Lance:_** _Ours isn't either. Just my jackets and shirts that r the same for every day of the week._

He came back pretty fast as well,

 ** _Keith:_** _U wear the same outfits every day too? Cool. See u there._

I shut off my phone and told Hunk where we were meeting Keith. He approved of it and told Pidge to meet us there. She agreed it was a good place as well and we headed out to meet up with everybody.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Keith

 **A/N: I was on a roll today and whipped this up in no time at all. I had some inspiration for this chapter and just rolled with it. I hope you all enjoy!**

To be honest, it was a little rude of them to leave me in front of the Dormitories like that, but I was used to it by now. I never really minded when they left me alone either. I was never much of a talker and never openly wanted to interact with the rest of the group. It was nice how whenever they could they included me in their activities, even if I didn't talk to them much.

I sighed and told myself the same thing I told myself everyday, _tomorrow I will make a change. Talk to them a bit more._ I never really followed through with those plans, though. It didn't really matter anyways. I had nice friends and they cared about me and that was all that mattered. I stepped in the building and made my way up three flights of stairs. My room was 345, all the way at the end of the hall. _Great, it's going to take me forever to get down and up here._

But it would be a nice change from living at home with my parents. All on my own with the exception of a roommate who I hoped would be nice. I unlocked the door, realizing that he must not have gotten here yet to have unlocked it and stepped inside. Two twin beds, end tables, and a closet adorned the room. _Simple, the way I like it._ Was the thought ran through my head.

I emptied my two suitcases, hung up my clothes, put some spare pens in the end table's drawer and slid the emptied suitcases under my bed. Where was my roommate? I at least wanted to meet him before I darted off with the rest of the group. After waiting for a good five minutes I laid completely down on my bed, now awaiting a conformation from Lance to where we would meet up.

Speaking of the group and my sociality, maybe I should join in on the conversations a bit more? Ugh, but I always get so confused on what to say or if my opinions matter to them, so it always becomes a big mess! Maybe Lance could teach me how to talk to people? He always seems pretty good at talking to people.

And then my phone dinged three high-pitched notes, the text tone for Lance because he's so annoying and his voice was fairly high.

 ** _Lance:_** _We r done. Where do u wanna meet?_

There wasn't much I knew about the campus yet, and the only place I saw that we could hang out was right outside the dorms. Maybe this was a good chance to talk to Lance in an actual conversation? I guess I could try, as long as he doesn't infuriate me like usual.

 ** _Keith:_** _Right outside? My room wouldn't be much to look at._

He replied almost immediately,

 ** _Lance:_** _Ours isn't either. Just my jackets and shirts that r the same for every day of the week._

That surprised me. I wore the same outfits everyday too! Was this… bonding? Okay, I needed to play this casual. Natural. A nice conversation.

 ** _Keith:_** _U wear the same outfits every day too? Cool. See you there._

I think I handled that pretty well, being as it was my first attempt to be 'casual' and 'talkative'. Wait… I already knew he wore the same outfits every day! He told me when we were walking to the dorms! I put a hand to my face in regret. _That was so stupid!_ On top of that, I gave it away to him that I wore the same outfits every day too! Granted, I washed them and had multiple pairs, but still!

That conversation we had when we were walking in was nice, but when Lance was staring at me was really weird. It was really weird, although, I didn't really mind it. His eyes were nice and deep, like there were layers of Lance's personality I didn't know about.

Did I just fantasize about Lance's eyes? I think being inside for a bit has made me go a bit crazy, and the others were most likely waiting for me outside. It would be good to get some fresh air. Opening the door into the hallway, I made my way down the stairs and out the main door.

Nothing outside had changed. Students were still struggling with their suitcases and things, the autumn leaves were falling to the ground, and the clouds still were huge and low. It was a nice scene, and the gentle breeze blowing through my hair felt nice. _Just a little bit under a tree wouldn't hurt, would it?_ I thought to myself, sitting down against the nearest tree to wait for the others.

I closed my eyes and really felt the wind blow across my face; a sort of calm came over me like…

"BOO!" Someone shouted, jolting me awake and making me hop to my feet. I almost punched the person square in the face before I realized it was Lance. Of course it was Lance. That was just something he did.

"Really Lance? I was actually trying to get some shut eye after the trip and you do _that_?" I gestured to the spot where I was laying. He could be a real child sometimes. Okay, a lot of the time. Forget that, most of the time.

Lance was laughing out loud, almost keeling over from laughter, putting his hands on his legs and bending over from enjoyment. "You should have seen your face!"

I didn't get what was so funny. "What about it? Is there something wrong with it?"

"Don't answer that question, Lance." Pidge glared at him as she strolled up alongside Hunk. "Why did you freak out Keith like that?"

"Uh, because it was funny? He looked too peaceful sitting there. Talk about weird." Lance turned away from me and towards Pidge and Hunk.

I didn't know how to deal with this weird feeling in my stomach… Was it… Sadness? No, or maybe rage? Or a mix of the two? God, Lance just made me so mad sometimes!

"I'm weird?!" I burst out at Lance, directing his attention to me. "Look at you! You just crack stupid jokes all the time and flirt with anyone you see!"

Lance was taken by surprise, although I could barely tell through my veil of anger. "Buddy, I think you just need to…"

"What do you know Lance?!" I shouted again. "Nothing! That's what!" I couldn't think of anything else to say, so my legs moved for me, stomping away to another tree and sitting down underneath it.

I could hear Pidge loudly whispering to Lance, "Why did you do that to him? You know how he can be."

Pidge was making fun of me too now, huh? I could see how this was a mile away. No one in that group liked me, and…

"Keith?" A rare, quiet version of Lance stood a few feet away from me. "Are you okay?"

My rage had subsided a little, and I tried to answer him as calmly as I could. "No. You all hate me."

"What?" He crouched down in front of me now. "No we don't. I was just messing around. I didn't mean to…"

"Well, you did! It's done now, what's in the past is behind us." I told him. Man, those were some deep words, and I _wasn't_ deep.

Lance sat on the tree too now, sitting down next to me. "I know, but I just wanted to say sorry. I didn't know you would take it so… seriously."

"I didn't know you could take anything _this_ seriously." I muttered under my breath.

He actually responded to me, "What? I can totally be serious whenever I want to!"

A smile gleamed across my face, "No way. I bet you ten bucks you can't go the rest of the day being serious."

"Do you even have ten bucks?" Lance nudged me in the stomach.

"What?" I cried, "Of course I do! What do you take me for, a peasent?"

That made him laugh. "Then it's a deal. I'll be serious the rest of the day or I'll pay you ten dollars. If I follow through, then you have to pay me. Deal?" He brought out his hand to shake on it.

"Bring it." I took his hand and stared him down. I was going to win this bet, whether Lance like it or not.

 **(Third Person)**

Pidge and Hunk stood far enough away from the two boys to listen in on their conversation, and far enough away not to intrude. They shook hands to place the bet and Pidge could see the determination in Lance's eyes from where she was standing.

"Hey Hunk." She turned to her big friend. "Do you want to make a bet too?"

Hunk smiled, knowing exactly what she had in mind.

 **I hope you all enjoyed yet again, for this was a chapter I really liked to write! See you all soon!**

 **3**

 **Finn Erickson**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Lance

 **A/N: So I've made a few mistakes that are pretty simple thus far. The color of Keith's eyes from chapter one aren't brown, they're purple, and Keith also doesn't have parents. (I mentioned he did in chapter 2, lol) Thanks to Yemi Hikari for pointing those out! Enjoy the chapter!**

Soon after I started the bet with Keith, I realized that it would be much harder than I anticipated. I was so used to making jokes about everything and everyone, but when being serious I couldn't do that unless I wanted to give Keith ten dollars.

Something that I didn't want to do.

And on top of all of that, Keith was staring at me most of the time, waiting for me to slip up and joke about something. He was also asking me a bunch of questions, and since I had to be serious I had to answer them without smirking and honestly. Keith was killing me with questions he knew would normally make me whip out a pun.

"So Lance… I've heard you say this one once or twice. Tacos or burritos?" Keith said, a questioning look on his face.

"Keith, do you even know what that joke is supposed to mean?" I replied, sighing heavily.

"That is a very serious question Lance." He said as we were walking side by side. The four of us had decided to go out to eat at a restaurant near campus, so that's where we were headed. "And, no. I don't."

I wanted to laugh at Keith and his naïve-ness, but I willed myself to stay calm and collected. Serious. "Then you have no right to ask me that." I told him, facing forward and not looking at him, even though I could tell he was still staring me down. "And, Tacos. I hate burritos. I bet you _love_ them, Keith." I added.

He was confused, I could tell even though I wasn't looking at him. Sure, I wasn't serious with that last sentence, but I knew he wouldn't notice since he didn't get the joke at all. Keith didn't get many things and that might turn to work in my favor for this bet.

We'd finally reached the diner by that point, which was named "The Golden Spoon Diner" which was an odd name for a not fancy diner. At least, that was my opinion. We all sat down in a booth with Pidge and Keith sitting next to me. He was pretty close to me, which made me really uncomfortable. Could they guy ever just let me try and be serious to win a weird bet in peace?

The waitress noticed us sitting and walked over, her long brown hair whipping in the air behind her. She was beauty, grace, and everything I wanted in a woman, and I _never_ exaggerate. "My name's Lonnie and I'll be serving you today." She handed out the menus, "Have any of you been here before?" she said, really eying up Keith.

I didn't like the way she was looking at him. She should've been looking at me like that! Okay, answer her question seriously… "No we have not, miss. I would've remembered _your_ face."

She didn't look flattered at all. In fact, she looked a bit annoyed. No one ever felt annoyed by anything I've said! With possibly the exception of Keith who always seemed annoyed of me. Come to think of it, he had been pretty chill with our conversation back under the tree on campus. Was that really the first time we talked without any of our egos getting in the way? I never would've known he would react like he did. Man, Keith sure did act like a child at a lot of things. Maybe if I got to know him a bit more I… I wouldn't have acted like that. I didn't… care for Keith, did I? No. That was ludicrous. Besides, I was openly flirting with Lonnie the waitress right now, and I didn't want my head to be clouded by Keith and his weirdness.

"Not interested sir. I've had a rough day. I'll be back in a few to check on your orders." And like that, she left. Usually my charms got to women… so what was different about this time? As she was leaving I noticed her eyeing up Keith again. What made him better than me? He didn't even get the clue that she was into him! He was like… romance deaf or something? Heh, good pun me.

"So Lance." Keith spoke, flipping open his menu. "What are you going to order?"

It didn't seem like he was testing me this time. Was he actually trying to make conversation with me? "I, um…' He had me at a loss for words for the second time that day! What was so… different about him that made me trip up like this? It was… odd. But at the same time it was like butterflies were in my stomach. What was going on?! "I-I don't know yet." I told him honestly.

"Oh. Uh… Cool?" He said it like he was unsure of his words. Was he trying to act cool around me? It seemed like it. Maybe it was because he was trying a little too hard that I could notice it.

The menu options were fairly cheap, but they also looked cheaply made. There were chicken strip baskets of varying sizes, different types of fries, sandwiches, and even some good looking cheese curds!

"I only asked because… uh…" Keith continued off of what he was saying before, nervously, I might add. "Maybe we could share something? It would make things cheaper." His question caught me off guard. Keith and I sharing a plate? That might not be the best idea. Keith butted into my thoughts, "We don't have to it was just an idea." and he turned away from me, most likely embarrassed.

"No no no!" I quickly said, making him turn back to face me. "What do you, uh, like to eat?" I was also trying to be serious, so talking like a normal person was a bit of a hassle.

Keith was caught off guard like I was originally, and grabbed his menu. "I was looking through this and saw they have a chicken basket. Maybe we could have a side of chees curds with it? I know you like those."

Wait… how did Keith know I liked cheese curds? Maybe he did pay attention to me, even though all of my crazy jokes. Maybe being serious wasn't such a bad thing? I might as well just ask him how he knew I liked cheese curds. "Um, yeah I love those! How'd you know?"

He turned away again, covering his face. "I listen to you guys, even if you don't recognize I'm there."

It dawned on me that he felt like we never noticed him. In high school we always would invite him to everything we went to, from football games and parties, but we always focused on ourselves and never included him. We never took a chance to get to know him, or, I guess… I never did. "Keith…" I put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm…"

"Like I said before, Lance. It's all in the past. It's what you do in the future that matters now." He turned to me, his eyes slightly puffy.

I shook my head. I wanted to heal things between us for once, and not to just make fun of him like I always did. "So… should we order those chicken tenders?"

That made Keith's face light put a bit. "Yeah! Oh, and could you help me out with something?"

"Wait what?! Did you just want to use me to get leverage?" I said, feeling betrayed. What? Was the whole bet a ruse too?!

"No, no!" He said, getting frustrated. "That's not it! It's just…"

"What? What is it really, Keith?" Not having any of his excuses.

"Well, that waitress was at me weird and I didn't like it. I want you to help me out. You know… Get her to stop?"

Now that was something I could do. I could help out Keith and hopefully get closer to _Lonnie._ Wow… Even her name was beautiful. "Oh, sure. I didn't know you were going to ask that." _Remember, be serious._ I reminded myself. "Sorry for yelling like that." Only a serious adult would've said that. I was _killing_ it!

"It's fine." Keith responded as Lonnie the waitress started making her way over to our table. "Okay, do you have a plan?" Keith whispered to me.

"When do I not?" I told him.

Lonnie reached our table and took out a notepad. "What would everyone like here today?" She asked, looking right at hunk.

"I'll just take the grilled cheese. Surprise me with the drink." Hunk said, surprising me. He never ordered on a whim like that! He was usually so particular about what he ate and drank, and for him to ask for any drink was absurd!

"Alright. And you?" She looked at Pidge now.

"I'm good, thanks. Maybe just a water?"

"Will do." Lonnie responded. Now looking at Keith, something about her seemed to change. She was clearly looking to flirt with Lance. "And for you, hon?"

She used the word, "hun". That was the last straw. If she said something like that again I would have to step in.

"Just a large basket of Chicken Tenders with a side of cheese curds. Two lemonades as well, please." Keith plainly said. Did he not see what was going on?

"Wow! Someone seems hungry. Two lemonades for you alone or will you share them with someone else?" She said smoothly like she was the one who was going to drink the other one. Probably imagining she was sitting right next to Keith… That's what I was doing! Okay, time to step in! Bring out the big guns!

"Oh, no, sorry! Lorrie, was it?" I butted in, purposefully saying her name wrong to annoy her even more. I put my hand around Keith's bicep. "We're here _together._ Keith and I are _sharing_ the chicken basket."

I could tell that Keith was uncomfortable to my touch. I was too. It was super awkward acting like we were a… ugh… _couple…_ But I could tell it was working. She was not happy with me being Keith's 'boyfriend'. "Sure." She said through her teeth, annoyed.

Walking away, Lonnie went into the kitchen. Once I knew the coast was clear, I took my hand away from Keith's bicep, relieving the tension between us. "Yeah! We did it!" I raised my hand to give him a high-five.

He warily raised his own hand, high-fiving me. "I guess we did? That was really awkward though…"

"Who cares? We got our chicken _and_ Lonnie off of your back. It's a good day!"

"IT IS NOT A GOOD DAY!" Pidge all of a sudden shouted at us, her attention focused on a guy just walking into the diner.

"Why's that?" Keith asked her.

"WHY?! Oh jeez… Oh jeez…" She breathed in and out heavily.

"What is it Pidge?" Hunk asked as well.

"That guy is just so…" Pidge kept hyperventilating, unable to form her words.

"Good-looking?" I suggested to her.

"Y-Yeah!" She finally sputtered out.

Pidge was blushing and turning red like a poppy in full bloom. "Aww! Pidge has a crush with a guy she just saw!" Hunk said, nudging Pidge.

"SHHH!" Pidge exclaimed, "HE COULD HEAR YOU!"

We all laughed and I responded, "Well if he didn't hear us before, he sure did now. Look." I pointed out to Pidge that the guy had looked over in our direction.

"OH GOD I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!" Pidge flipped out even more.

The guy had short black hair and was average height. He had ripped jeans and a cool leather jacket on as well. And he was look pretty good looking. He walked over to us and said, "Hey, I noticed you all came from the University. We were behind you and planning to go to eat here as well, so we just wanted to say hey, since we hadn't seen you around here before." he motioned to his friends that were sitting in a booth a ways away.

He extended a hand to Keith, who nervously took it and shook. "Hi?" Keith said. Man, was he bad with conversations! Meanwhile, Pidge was dying of nervousness and trying to blend in with the red booth seat, which wasn't working since she stuck out like a sore thumb with her green jacket, not to mention she was blushing profoundly.

The guy's eyes glanced over at Pidge, making her go deathly pale. The dude laughed and said, "Oh, you're cute! Don't be nervous around me." He extended a hand to her, "I'm Lok."

Pidge was frozen from shock and nervousness. Did I mention she was nervous? "I-I'm P-Pidge…" She shook his hand, grasping is lightly, most likely nervous. Man, was she nervous!

Lok let go and waved to us, leaving our group by ourselves again. Pidge heaved a huge sigh and relaxed a little, but still not letting herself look in the direction of the mysterious Lok. "So that was… eventful?" I laughed a little, trying to relieve some tension.

All of a sudden, our baskets of food that we ordered seemingly slammed down onto our table, Lonnie's angry face glaring at us. "Here's your food." And then she quickly left.

"Well she was rude." Keith, Mr. Captain Obvious pointed out.

"We did shut down her flirting." I told him, grabbing our basket of chicken tenders.

"SHE WAS FLIRTING WITH ME?!" Keith cried incredulously. Oh, Keith. So ignorant.

 **A/N: Well, thanks for reading yet again! Check out my Wattpad account: Hashtagmrfluff**

 **My ao3 and Tumblr** : **Lapis4Life**

 **See you all later,**

 **Finn Erickson**

 **3**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Keith

 **I loved exploring Keith's personality in this chapter! It was so fun to mess around with how he could react to different situations. (My little cinnamon roll!) I thank NuttyThenutJob (On Wattpad) for their amazing comments. Luv ya all!**

 **Enjoy! (Seriously though, that Author-chan thing had me reeling)**

Man, that waitress was pretty mad when she delivered our food. Lance said it was because she was hitting on me and due to us shutting her down, but I didn't really notice she was hitting on me. I was focused on Lance the entire time silently, to see if he would slip up with our bet. Sadly for my wallet, he hadn't yet.

Our food had arrived with a salty "thump" from Lonnie the waitress and Lance took no time to dig right in. I manage to grab a strip of the chicken we had ordered together, trying to avoid touching his hands. Everything had already been really awkward with that payback thing to Lonnie for flirting when Lance had put his hand on my bicep. Good thing he didn't see my blush, being he was too occupied seeing Lonnie's reaction to our plan to get back at her.

In reality, why did Lance offer to help me out with Lonnie? He seemed so eager to carry out his plan and put his hand around my arm so casually. Did he really feel that way? It was still new territory for me with Lance, and I was unsure myself on my feelings towards him. I mean, we had always been rivals and didn't talk much, so what did I know really?

Maybe it was just some silly thing that was stuck in my head and it would go away soon. I really hoped it would because I still wanted to improve my conversational skills with Lance without those weird feelings towards him swirling around in my stomach and head and all over. I threw my thoughts aside, and without thinking reached for a chicken strip at the same time Lance was, making our hands land on each other in the chicken basket.

Lance and I looked up at the same time, staring each other down, seeing who would make the first move. Why was everything a competition with him, and why did I always accept his challenges by joining in? I took a huge chance and grasped Lance's hand, catching him off guard yet again to see what his reaction would be.

He furrowed his eyebrows and took no time in grasping my hand harder, most likely making sure I knew he meant business. Did he only see this as a rivalry thing? After accidentally touching his hand I held it only to test the waters with him, but seeing as he only thought of it as a battle I let go, knowing that my advance was in vain.

Smirking, Lance grabbed a chicken strip and bit it off messily, chomping loudly. Did he always try to tick me off no matter what the situation? He didn't even care that we just held hands! Maybe it was because he was trying to be serious still and didn't want to mess things up by laughing in my face at my attempt to hold hands with him.

Taking a piece of chicken, I bit into it and we continued to eat until the group was all done with their food. Pidge was still flipping out over Lok, the guy who was sitting a few booths over and wouldn't stop fidgeting. Man! She acted pretty crazy when she had a crush. Usually she was pretty calm and collected in stressful situations, and seeing her like this was weird.

"Ah…" Hunk said, patting his stomach. "That was good. We might need to come here again!"

"Yeah, maybe we do." Lance spoke up, "As long as Lonnie isn't our waitress." That made everyone laugh and even I cracked a small smile. It was a little funny. "And now we need to address Pidge's new 'boy problem'."

Pidge froze. "W-what boy problem?"

I had the sudden urge to speak up and say I had a 'boy problem', but now wasn't the time. If Lance didn't return my feelings then I knew it wouldn't work between us. He wasn't attracted to me and that was fine. We'd just stay friends for the rest of our lives. If I ever mentioned that I liked Lance to Lance himself he would _never_ let it go. He was just like that, always joking and making fun of me. It got pretty annoying after I while.

Besides, Lance had always liked girl and never made a hit on any guy ever, so that should've been a hint to me even before I tried to hold hands with him that I should never try anything with him. He would never return my feelings. Besides, his talking to me under the tree might've been nothing. A friendly gesture, and those were rare coming from him.

I returned to the conversation and Pidge's freak out to hear Lance speak up. "We should get going anyways. It would be a good idea to get Pidge out of here too. I don't think she can handle any more of the emotional stress from being near her new _crush._ " He emphasized 'crush' like it was a weird thing. Wasn't it totally normal to have a crush of someone? I mean, I had a crush on Lance and it wasn't weird. For that most part, at least. Right?

Hunk had generously decided to pay for our meals and pulled me to the side, thanking me for saving his wallet by sharing that chicken basket with Lance. We all got up and left after that, not taking a second glance at Lonnie the flirt and leaving the diner.

Pidge informed the three of us (Lance, Hunk, and I) to get a good night's sleep and to set our alarm clocks for tomorrow so we could get to class on time. The good thing with Garrison University was classes began at 11:00 so we could get time to sleep in. She left after we all agreed to follow her rules and we went to our respective dorm rooms.

I reached my room and found it locked. I had locked it before we left so no one could break in, but if it hadn't been unlocked since then meant my roommate still hadn't arrived. _That's weird,_ I thought, _where's my roommate? Shouldn't he be here by now?_ I shook off the thought, think he probably wasn't here yet because something could've happened to make him a little late. Besides, all students had to be checked in by 7:00 tonight so maybe he was just getting here a little later than we did.

Looking at the alarm clock I had on my end table, I checked the time. 2:12. Man! We had been there for a while and getting Lonnie off of my back must've taken us longer to do then I thought.

Being away from the group for once was… weird. Usually I went home without any doubts, just wanting to be by myself for a while, but today was different. I felt like I really bonded with the group for once and actually wanted to be by them, and being alone was odd in itself for once in my life.

I flopped down onto my simple twin bed, sighed loudly. It was actually boring being by myself for once. Maybe… Maybe I could text Lance? No, that would be weird. I was still hungover from what happened at the diner, and my talking skills were still sub-par. It's not like one outing of trying to talk more could automatically fix my un-sociable side. But like I had thought before, Lance could probably help me out with learning how to be more outgoing. What harm could it bring by just talking to him? It was just my nerves that were holding my back at this point.

Sitting up, I whipped out my phone and opened my messages, finding Lance's name under 'favorites', although he was anything but a favorite of mine.

 ** _Keith:_** _Hey Lance. What's up?_

That was casual enough, right?

 ** _Lance:_** _Hey Keith. Wasn't expecting u to txt me._

 ** _Keith:_** _As if I wanted to. I'm bored._

 ** _Lance:_** _And u txted me first? I thought we were enemies, but I can never really read your emotions._

That was a little harsh, but Lance always spoke the hard truth around me, so I should've been used to it. Was my crush on him getting in the way? Was that why I was so hurt by his hard facts? Ignoring his last sentence, I texted back,

 ** _Keith:_** _I just wanted someone to talk to, it's not like u were my first choice._

 ** _Lance:_** _U were lonely? Aww, that's cute._

I could feel my face heat up. Damn, why did he always make me feel like this even when I dismissed my feelings for him?

 ** _Keith:_** _Can we have a civil conversation for once?_

 ** _Lance:_** _Nope. Never._

 ** _Keith:_** _Real nice Lance. The rivalry continues._

 ** _Lance:_** _It will never end as long as I'm alive._

 ** _Keith:_** _U won't be soon if u keep this up._

 ** _Lance:_** _Sure… So if u wanna talk, I guess I'm all ears. Hunk is still arranging his side of the room and isn't much of a talker right now._

Oh god, I wasn't good at talking like he was. How would I start this? I mean, the conversation was going well so far, so it shouldn't be too hard to continue it, would it?

 ** _Keith:_** _What did u think of Pidge's little crush?_

I didn't get why it was such a big deal to him, but I decided I would get to know why it was to him a bit more. Besides, I thought it would be a good talking point

 ** _Lance:_** _I think our little friend is growing up! Remember during high school how she didn't focus on anything else besides the robotics club?_

 ** _Keith:_** _I guess, but I never really noticed those things._

 ** _Lance:_** _U don't notice much, do u? Like how u didn't notice Lonnie flirting with u?_

Really? He pulled that card? I couldn't just use the excuse that I didn't like people like… her… He would laugh at me! I needed to brush off the subject somehow. But with what?

 ** _Keith:_** _But that was a good way for u to test ur acting prowess._

Whenever Lance was pestering me like he was there, I would just tell him something good about himself to puff his ego up and for him to forget the subject at hand. It usually worked out well in my favor.

 ** _Lance:_** _Ya, but u sure seemed to like when I held onto u when she came to take our orders. U even tried to hold my hand afterwards! Could u not even notice that our acting was over once she left?_

 ** _Keith:_** _Of course I did. I was just trying to get on ur nerves!_

 ** _Lance:_** _Sure u were. Wanna talk about it irl?_

Did I want to right now? Lance was really getting on my nerves and it took me forever to get to sleep. It wouldn't hurt to start sleeping right now would it? I didn't want to talk to him, sure, but it was really the only way to improve my speaking, which was my ultimate goal.

 ** _Keith:_** _Idk. Do u really wanna talk to me?_

 ** _Lance:_** _Idk either. I never wanna talk to u._

 ** _Keith:_** _Haha, very funny._

I waited for a response from him, but after waiting for a good five minutes he never even read the last text I sent. Sighing and knowing he probably ditched me like he always would do in high school, I tossed my phone away from me on the bed. Lance never cared about me, so why did I expect him to change now?

All of sudden a knock came from the door. I jumped up, thinking my roommate had finally arrived and was knocking on the door for me to let him in. I opened it up, revealing my slightly taller 'friend' Lance standing in the doorway with his usual wry smile. "Hey bestie!" He shouted, letting himself barge right in past me.

I felt like it was going to be a long day.

 **Thanks for reading, and as always, check out my Tumblr and ao3: Lapis4Life**

 **As well as my Wattpad: Hashtagmrfluff**

 **3**

 **Finn Erickson**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Lance

 **I wrote this so fast... I had serious inspiration. I have nothing else to say. I'm still crying and banging my head on the table. Why did I put my cinnamon rolls through this? I hope confused fire baby can make it through this, but Lance has some issues too.**

 **Sorry readers. This is a rough chapter. :'(**

Keith's room was pretty simple, with an alarm clock and the plainest white sheets I'd ever seen. Talk about boring! He seemed a little confused on why I had shown up all of a sudden, so I might as well explain the situation to my confused little friend. "Didn't you want me to talk with you? Remember our texts?"

He answered after remembering the conversation, the words slowly coming out of his mouth. "Yeah, I guess." He wasn't much of a talker, so it seemed like I would have to speak for him.

I casually sat on his bed, not wanting to be a werido by just standing around. "So? What's up? You said you were lonely and junk, so I guess I felt entitled to come and make you not lonely." It was true, I didn't want to see Keith sad or anything. Was that weird to think?

"Yeah." He sat next to me, looking down at the floorboards. "It's just… After bonding with you guys today I felt… weird. Being by myself."

That was the first time I'd ever heard of Keith having social-separation issues. And after being out with us one time for lunch! He was changing, becoming more socially inept. Since when did he care about his social standings?! I would need to bump up my game to stay ahead of him socially, even though he had a ways to go to reach where I was. Near the top for sure.

"Really?" I responded, looking at him. The way his hair fell over his face looked so… mysterious. It was sort of captivating. Uh, in a totally platonic way for course! "That's a first." I played off my emotions coolly. It seemed to be getting hotter, and the small room seemed to be getting more and more cramped.

I moved away from Keith farther along the bed, making the space between us larger. It made things less cramped then before. What was going on? I've never felt like this around any of my friends, and definitely not Keith! He cracked a small smile, it was small, but still noticeable. "There were a lot of firsts today." He said, staring at the wall opposite of us. What was nagging at his mind? I was surprised I could even see that something was nagging at him, since he was so hard to read.

Thinking hard about what Keith could've done as a first today, I remembered how he tried to make me break the bet we made with that joke he didn't get. He also stood his ground when I held his arm when we got back at Lonnie and actually tried to hold a conversation with me for once. Maybe I could let him in a bit more and not joke about everything he did? No, that was our system of friendship. We made fun of each other and that was our thing.

"Like with the diner." He added.

"What about the diner?" I blurted out loud. He turned to look at me, specks of water in his purple eyes. I wanted to turn into a pile of Lance-ness, but instead I stood my ground like Keith did, and urged myself to continue. "There was so much that happened there today! Things that you tried and did for once. You need to be more specific."

His eyes only welled with more tears. How could Keith be so sensitive about the plainest things? I just asked him a simple question! What had happened at the diner? I really willed myself to search my memories this time. _Come on, Lance!_ I told myself, _you sat right next to him the entire time!_ What could've possibly happened to make Keith feel this way?

I dug around my memories a bit more. Was it… No. He was clearly just joking around. That was our thing! There was no way he meant anything by it.

"I… I don't want to talk about it." He completely shut himself off from me, crossing his arms and looking the other way. There must be some way I could help him out with this situation! Woah… Helping out Keith? What was I thinking?

Dismissing the thought, maybe I could help him out without revealing my true 'helping' intentions. What if I got the group together and we did something together? No, that would never go through. Pidge was most likely sleeping already, getting ready for tomorrow, so she would never join us. Maybe casual talk would help relieve some of the tension?

"Okay. That's fine. What did you think of the food then?" I asked him, diverting from the topic.

But that only seemed to make it worse.

"Get out." Keith said. How could talking about food have made everything worse? When I didn't move he stood up facing me, his face growing red. "Get out!"

I got his message and stood up, standing a few inches taller than him. He looked sort of… cute when he was angry? It kind of made me want to reach out and rustle his hair. I didn't hide the fact to myself this time, the fact that I was attracted to Keith.

A well of emotions came out from within me; anger from Keith pushing me away and anger at myself for treating him like crap ever since I met him. Confusion; how could I like women and their curves and the way their hair tossed around in the air and fell down on their shoulders, but also like guys and their muscles and sparkling eyes?

Keith was everything I wanted, really. The hair and muscles.

I even teared up a little, a heat running through my face and my blood running hot through my body. I couldn't take it, and I couldn't act like this in front of Keith either, so I reacted like any normal person would. "Fuck you Keith." With no context to the conversation we were having before. It seemed like I came off too strong. Keith would surely notice my over-reaction and question it.

He told me to get out and I flipped out at him. I never swore at anyone… especially people I liked. It's just Keith and his beautiful eyes made me so angry! At the same time I wanted to punch him and kiss him and those feelings clashed in me like two war-Gods going to war.

I stormed out of his room, slamming the door behind me. It raised a few heads in the hallway but I could barely notice. I was fuming over Keith and his negligence. He was usually so calm about everything, how could he just wall himself off from me like that? At the restaurant he had tried to make a move on me, but I was too caught up in our rivalry to notice. How dumb was I? Very dumb! For once I admitted it to myself. I was utterly stupid for treating Keith like that. Would I ever stop, even after today? Probably not. It was in my nature and I couldn't help it.

Thinking and angry, which made my mind not think straight, I came up with what seemed like a perfect plan to never hurt Keith again. I didn't want to hurt him ever again because… I liked him? It made no sense at all, but I made a vow to myself. I would wall myself off from him to protect him from my harsh, stupid words. It was the only way to not hurt what we had any farther. If that meant never talking to him again, then it would be fine. I wanted the good things we had to stick, not any more bad ones.

Reaching my dorm room now, I opened the door and sat on my bed, facing the wall. I tuned out any other noises and banged my head on the wall. _Why did I care so much about him if all we ever did was fight each other? I was supposed to be hating him, not… caring about him!_ Now my tears really started to fall. I never cried about anything, that's what my mom prided me on. My resilience to pain.

But my pain had never been internal, so close to my heart.

I was angry. Angry that I liked Keith and his adorable smile (whenever he did smile), his long hair I could spend hours running my hands through, or his beautiful purple eyes that always seemed to captivate and mystify me. He turned me away after I had turned him away at the diner. Was this how he felt? Did I really ever know how Keith felt? I mean, I never really got to know him at all.

This would be for the best, protecting him from me the only way I could think. I had always hurt him by talking to him, being near him, and butting head with him. Now, I would cut myself off from him and avoid him whenever I could.

I didn't want to hurt him.

I didn't want to feel anything for him.

I wanted everything to go back to what they were in high school.

Plain. Simple. Negligent.

Feeling things never helped anyone, especially me. I should just brush it off and forget about it, along with Keith. To save him from me.

Curling up in a ball, I brought my blankets over my head and wept. I didn't care if Hunk saw me, the whole world could see me and I wouldn't care, but if Keith saw me it would be all over. Why? Why? Why? Why did I have to care about _him_ and his _stupid_ mullet? We acted like we never cared about each other, so why did I have to start now? And like this?

It was only about 2:30 in the afternoon, but I cried myself to sleep.

I hope you're all okay after that. I'm not. *sighs* Next time we'll see Keith's reaction to Lance's lash out and see how he handles it.

 **I'm going to have an aneurysm from having to hurt my children, but the character development it golden!**

 **Check out my Tumblr and ao3: Lapis4Life**

 **And my Wattpad: Hashtagmrfluff**

 **3**

 **Finn Erickson**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Keith

 **This chapter is a little more calming than the last one, with Keith still trying to figure out why he likes Lance. There's some repercussions from Keith lashing out at Lance and Lance flipping out at Keith... But it's getting better!**

 **Read on reader!**

I never asked for Lance to come to my room and visit me, but he did anyways. That only made things worse. He tried, for once, to start a simple conversation with me and I was a wreck. I had a crush on him that wasn't going to go down easy, and all he wanted to talk about was what happened at the diner.

That's where it all started! That's where I realized my feelings for him and took action, only for him to deny me due to our petty rivalry. Is that all he cared about? Our rivalry? It seemed like every sentence he uttered was making fun of me or something I did, and I'd had enough of him. He would continuously bring up the diner when I clearly wanted to avoid the subject, even telling him I didn't want to talk about it!

Was he so dense that he didn't even realize my advances? Of course, I was being a hypocrite because I didn't get many things he said, but Lance was a normal person! He should get these things, especially form me! A socially inept person who… who liked him. Now I'd pushed him away. He'd slammed the door to my room and stormed out after I told him to leave.

And as he did, he swore at me. Lance never swore at anyone, I knew because I actually paid attention to him in high school. He might think I'm just someone who hangs out in the corner and mopes around everywhere, but I really listened to what Lance had to say. He was just so… interesting, where I wasn't. He was what inspired me to start to break out of my shell, but by pushing him away I pushed away the only chance I had of breaking the mold I was stuck in.

But what did I know really? He was my first crush. The only person I looked to in my time of need. Sure, Pidge was the logical and reasonable one, but Lance added the joy and laughter to it all. He was the one who brought me to smile the few times I ever did.

And I'd pushed him away.

I wished the world would amend my mistakes for me, make me the person I strived to be. But instead I had to figure it would for myself, take risks and sharp turns and cliff dives. In doing so I pushed my only chance to become a better person away by yelling at him to get out. Get out of my life, my room, my person. He had infected me with his smile, his crisp, dark blue eyes that always gleamed with a child-like excitement that mine could never hold.

Was he everything I wanted to be? Was that egotistical, cocky boy I fell in love with what I wanted to become? Maybe I just admired his social skills, but the rest of him appealed to me as well. I didn't want to be an exact copy of him, no, I just wondered how he was so talkative, so social. I wanted to have that, and I wanted to have him.

But I knew it was too late by now, and I couldn't just text him 'sorry' and we would be friends again. No, it would take time, but we would amend things ourselves. We weren't held to the world's standards and we couldn't let it define us. We needed to let out rivalry walls fall to the floor and construct something new. Maybe this falling out would help us do that.

I collapsed onto my bed, my mind reeling from all of the in-depth soul searching I just did. After all of that brain-picking I found I still liked Lance and nothing was going to change that. It would just take time to fix what we had torn down. Letting my mind rest, the lulls of sleep quickly took hold of me, enveloping me in its warm embrace.

Although this bought of sleep would not be an easy one.

Awaking in a dream world, I found myself stuck in one position. Everything was hazy, there were no walls around or anything of substance. There was a grey pallor to the entire scene, and I didn't know where I was. "Hello?" I questioned into the void.

"Hi." A voice answered me, a woman walked through the grey and into my view. I recognized her from earlier in the day. "Well aren't you cute?" Lonnie ran her finger under my chin, sending vibes of _creepy_ down my spine. She was flirting with me, I could tell now if she was flirting with me by how Lance had told me. Lance. Lance had taught me how to read flirting sings! I was remaking my social self.

"What's on the menu?" My dream self said. What the heck? In real life I would never say that, more like, 'get away!' or 'what are you doing?'. I never really got dreams, they were weird.

She laughed, "Not me." And turned to face another person who had appeared from the fog.

It was Lance. Lance held out his arms and wrapped Lonnie in them. I wanted so badly to turn away, but the dream made me stay fixed to my position. "Hey, Keith." Lance said, his voice coming out slow and relaxing. It made me want to melt into his arms and stay there, but of course, I was stuck. "I bet you want some of this." Lance continued, drawing the waitress ever closer to his face.

"NO!" I shouted, really wanting to look away from the hideous scene.

Their lips had almost touched when I jolted awake in a cold sweat, heaving heavy breaths. "Keith? Are you alright?" A voice said to the right of me, almost putting me in shock. Who could be here at this hour?

I looked over at my clock, seeing the red numbers telling me it was 5:34. "Who?..." I tried to ask, still recovering from the horrific thing I had just witnessed.

The person put their hand on my shoulder, trying to make me calm down. It reminded me of when the person who raised me calmed me down. They would always put their hand on my shoulder and… The person started to rub my shoulder a little, making me focus on their rotations and not my anxiety. It couldn't be… their touch was too familiar to be who I thought it was…

"Keith?" The voice said again. It was clearly male and sort of deep. I would recognize that voice anywhere!

"Shiro?" I said, looking up into my guardian's dark brown eyes. The telltale scar across the bridge of his nose confirming it was him. Without another word I leapt into a hug with him, taking him by surprise. He quickly responded by hugging back.

"Surprised to see me?" He asked as soon as we disbanded. "Did you forget I taught here? Man, you forget a lot of things." He ruffled my black hair, making me break into a smile.

"I totally forgot!" I smiled a bit more. That was when I realized where I was. The room that I pushed Lance away in. My smile faded.

"Aren't you happy to see me?" Shiro questioned. "What's up?"

He could always tell when I was upset. It was sort of a fatherly instinct he had with me. "I don't want to talk about it." I walled of my emotions from him, crossing my arms. "What are you doing here? Are professors even allowed in the dorm rooms?"

"I can go wherever I want." Shiro replied quickly, changing the subject back to my feelings. "Now seriously. What is going on? You always shut yourself off whenever I ask you these sorts of questions, so I know something's up." I didn't respond, making Shiro become even more persistent. "Well, now it's time to play twenty questions. You made me do this." He said, sitting next to me on the bed.

"Is it…" He started to think, dragging out the 'it'. "Friend problems? Man, you had plenty of those in high school, whether you deny it or not."

Hiding my face even more to make sure he didn't find out about the truth, he spoke again, "It definitely is. You're hiding your face from me. Friend problems... hm…" Standing up, I paced around the room, avoiding looking at his face. "Still not fessing up, huh? Well, I have a bunch more questions. This could go on forever if you don't answer now."

I stopped, contemplating whether I should tell him the truth or not. He could clearly tell I was having an internal struggle, because he leaned in towards me, a smile creeping in on his face. "Let's see… you have never had a crush before. Could that be it?"

Glaring at him, I started pacing again.

"That is it? Isn't it? Wow, two questions! Is that a new record?" He laughed a little. I fumed a little more. He raised his hand and held onto my arm, stopping me. "Seriously, Keith. I'm here for you."

For once, I responded to him. "I'm fine, Shiro. Really." Sitting down next to him again.

"It doesn't seem like that to me." He grabbed me and put me into a hug that I did _not_ sign up for. "You can talk to me, you know. I'm here to give you advice. I've lived through my life and made mistakes. I can tell you how to not make the same ones I did."

I looked up at him, seeing in his eyes that he was totally prepared to start lecturing me. He was a professor, that's what they did! "Fine." I told him, allowing him to start lecturing me.

Pride shone in his eyes for some reason, and he started to speak. "I was about your age. Just starting college and heading into the real world." The world. The world that didn't make you perfect. You had to take the world and make yourself perfect. "I had feelings for a friend of mine, but she was stubborn." He rubbed my shoulder in the relaxing manner he had done before.

"Even though I tried and tried to show her how I felt, she always thought of it as a game. We were too good of friends in her eyes." He spoke, softening his voice. "I destroyed our friendship in the process, driving her away from me and ruining what we had made."

Shiro was telling the exact same story that Lance and I were going through now. I'm amazed I even caught that myself, being as I didn't get most things. If I didn't fix things… It would end up like him and his friendship with his friend. Broken and shattered, never able to be put back together.

"Don't ruin your friendship, Keith. Take some time to figure it out. You have four more years together with Lance to figure things out."

I looked up at him with awe, wondering how he could've figured out I liked Lance. "How…?"

"How did I know you liked him?" Shiro chucked a little, "I saw it between you two the first time he came over to the house. You two were just too stuck in your rivalry to see it. Why did you think I installed those security cameras around the house a week later?"

That made me smile. Maybe he was right. I just need to wait it out and let the storm blow over. "Thanks dad." I hugged him. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?" We both got up and I escorted him to the door.

"Maybe. Are you in my engineering class at anytime of the day?" He asked, standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, actually." I whipped out the schedule of my classes I had in my pocket. "First hour."

Shiro smiled. "Alright. I hope everything goes well with you and crazy."

"Crazy?" I said, not getting what he meant.

He shook his head, smiling again, "You're too naïve sometimes. You and Lance is what I meant."

Was that a nickname for Lance or what? I really didn't get much of what he said. He looked at my confused face and laughed, "See you later Keith." walking out into the hallway and leaving my view.

My dad was the best.

 **So what do you guys think? Shiro and Keith father-son interaction? Did you see that coming? I did! (I write this story of course I did)**

 **Check out my tumblr and ao3: Lapis4Life**

 **And my Wattpad: Hashtagmfluff**

 **3**

 **Finn Erickson**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Lance

 **Hey guys, my inspiration has finally deteriorated and it actually took a lot to finish this chapter. From now on I might not upload every single day like I have recently. Anyways, Lance has more internal struggles right before his first hour class. What will our little cinnamon roll do with his new found crush?**

 **Read on, reader!**

I remembered a time I high school when Keith had decided to join the track team with me. He had been in it his junior year of high school back in the town he moved from and was looking forward to participating in ours. Once he learned I was in it as well, his demeanor changed to one of grief. 'What? I didn't see you as being a runner.' He said, unsmiling.

Making fun of him, I had pointed out that he had short legs and shouldn't be even joining the team. It was sort of a jerk thing to say, but that was the only way we knew how to talk to each other. That was the whole reason I wanted to cut myself off from him for the time being. I didn't want to hurt him.

We had ran late into the night training, one always getting better than the other, causing the latter of us to train even harder to get better than the other one. It was fun and calming for our friendship, since we didn't have the air to talk while running. It was silent on the track besides our footsteps pounding on the ground. Instead of bickering, we pushed each other around, trying to make the other trip and fall. Once one of us did, the other would help the fallen one up. We would laugh it off and continue running after that.

Smiling at one of the only fond memories I had with Keith, I got up out of bed, the clothes I had worn negligently to bed yesterday sticking to my body. Man, I must not have taken them off! Granted, I had gone to bed crying, so there was that.

Throwing off the blanket that covered my body, I got out of bed. I noticed the big lump that was supposed to be Hunk in his bed, wasn't in his bed! Instead, a note rested on the sheets. I picked it up, reading it, _Hey Lance, I'm going to be out with Pidge this morning since we have the same class at 11:00. I hope you feel better today! :) – Hunk._

So Hunk had seen me crying yesterday. What did he think of it? Did he think I was a baby for crying like that? Of course he had no idea what had happened, so what did he know really? It didn't matter. I would find him later and talk about it. For now, I needed to shower and get fresh clothes on, the ones I had on were starting to reek!

Grabbing my shower bag from the closet, I went into the hallway and found a set of showers in a 'wash room' down the hall. The shower was really calming. Sure, the showers were separated by walls, but it was nice to shower alone. Why wasn't anyone showering if it was only 9:00 in the morning? That's what Hunk's alarm clock had told me.'

It didn't really matter much, so I continued washing off. The whole thing with Keith… Well, I hoped that I didn't have to not talk to him for a long time. Maybe just a few days and the whole conversation we had yesterday would go away? _No,_ I thought, _the conversation would never go away. It was too big of one, too much yelling, new information…_ I let the warm water wash over my back, washing away those thoughts and sending them down the drain. Maybe I had over-reacted? I should just start things fresh with Keith. No, that wouldn't work either, we always needed to bicker at each other one way or another.

"Gah!" I shouted, there was no solution! Furiously turning off the flow of water, I grabbed the towel that hung behind me and dried off my hair and my body, wrapping it around my waist. I threw open the curtain and was confronted by a familiar face.

It was the guy from the diner! What was his name? Look? Soot? "Hey." His smooth voice came out, "You're one of the people from the diner, aren't you?"

I squinted my eyes at him. I didn't trust this guy, but Pidge liked him so I guess I would try to make conversation with him. "Yeah. What about it?"

"I just wanted to say hi to a familiar face, with you guys being new to the area and everything." He said with a smile on his face, his black hair going over one of his eyes. He stuck a hand out to me, "I'm Lok. I don't think we haven't been properly introduced."

I shook it tentatively, not know if 'Lok' was trustworthy or not. "Lance." Was all I let out to him about myself.

"Cool name. Was that guy you were sitting next to at the diner your boyfriend?" He had crossed a line he couldn't see. I hated this guy, bringing up the only thing I was trying to avoid, all with a smile on his face. "I can never tell if people are brothers or dating so…"

"Be quiet." I told him, glaring into his dark blue eyes, telling him I meant business.

He took a step back and raised his hands defensively, "I didn't mean anything by it, I just…" without letting Lok utter another word, I blew past him, going back into the hallway and into my room.

Why was Keith dominating my life even though I was trying to avoid him? Gah! Can I never catch a break?! Changing into a fresh set of my usual jeans, white t-shirt, and brown jacket. I threw the old ones into a pile of dirty clothes that I would make Hunk take out to the Laundromat later.

It was only 9:23, so I had plenty of time until class. Speaking of the class, I took out my schedule. I knew I had engineering first hour, but I wondered what the teacher's name was. The paper said he proffered the name 'Shiro' over Mr. 'last name here', which was odd. It didn't even list a last name for me.

The name Shiro sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite figure out where I knew his name from. It wasn't a common name, so I must've heard it from somewhere before if I recognized it! I racked my brain for anything related to Shiro, until I gasped, literally, out loud. He's Keith's dad! Seriously, on the day I was trying to avoid Keith he had to find ways to sneak into my life? Could I never catch a break?!

Seriously, what could I do while I was waiting for class to start? Walk around outside? I couldn't go running, since I just had a shower. Actually, who would care? I could just use some deodorant afterwards. Taking off my recently put-on jacket, I stepped out of my room and made my way outside. I turned on one of my playlists and put ear buds in, running along the sidewalk.

It was peaceful, not having to worry about anything and just run. The blue sky smiled at me and the morning sun gleamed across the horizon. No worries, no people, just me and my music. I had set a timer before I ran for a good thirty minutes, giving me plenty of time to get back and freshen up. My first class was engineering, so it was right in the science building next to the dorms, so it would be pretty easy to run to my room and get to the science building.

The campus was nice, with nice sized trees and flowers on the sides of some of the buildings. Signs directed people to places around campus standing proud and tall. People chatted away with friends and some even seemed to be in relationships. They must've known each other from high school as well and chosen to go to Garrison University together. If only things were that smooth with me and my romantic endeavors. Instead, I held everything I felt for Keith until now, our rivalry getting in the way from me revealing that earlier.

Why were we so negligent until now? Clearly Keith had always liked me, but never found the courage to do anything about it. He made his first move at the diner and I had pushed him away.

I stopped running and hung my head.

I was the problem. My ego had always gotten in the way of _us._ I had always just cared about _me._ Something about Keith had always caught my eye, but I always thought it was just a rival thing. I always thought it was just something he was better at then me, and I needed to beat him at it, when the entire time was my attraction to him. You can't beat your own attraction to someone.

The timer I had set just happened to ring at me, which was by default set to 'Stressed Out' by Twenty-One Pilots. That was in my opinion a song that perfectly explained Keith. Or, did. In reality, what did I know about him? Through all of the crappy jokes and things I've put him through… I never got to know him as a friend. A proper friend.

Making my way back to my dorm room, I took a drink of water from a nearby water fountain. A girl who also seemed to have been running came up to the water fountain as well, putting hand on her hip and smiling at me. I looked up at her and she said, "Hey! I noticed you ran too. I needed to run before class to get the stress off of my back."

I nodded, taking in her features. Long blonde hair flowed from her head and sparkling green eyes smiled at me. She was good-looking! I really wanted to flirt with her because she was really cute, but something nagged at the back of my mind, telling me not to. I put on a smile for her and said, "Really? What stress could a girl like you have?"

Something _really_ felt off after I complimented her. What was wrong with me? I never had regrets like this when hitting on a girl like this before! What was different about it now? "Something troubling you?" The pretty runner girl asked, noticing the look on my face had changed from sort of happy to sort of not.

"No," I lied. "I'm fine. Nothing is wrong at all." I reinforced my words for myself while making the girl look at me strangely.

"O..kay?" She put on a questioning look. "I'm just going to drink some water."

I got out of her way as she drank some water, holding her hair back. I left her behind me as I went to my dorm room to get my jacket and freshen up before class. What was that thing I felt when I flirted with her? Was I holding myself back because of my feelings for Keith? Dang it! Ever since I vowed to stay away form him, he's just been creeping back into my life! How did he do it? How could a shy, naïve, introverted guy that was shorter than me weave his way into my heart in a few days?

No, not a few days, it had been all through high school, and I had never noticed it.

Me and my ego and our rivalry had forced me to never notice my attraction to Keith, and now it was tearing us apart.

 **Hoped you all enjoyed! Check out my Tumblr and ao3: Lapis4Life**

 **As well as my Wattpad: Hashtagmrfluff**

 **3**

 **Finn Erickson**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **Keith**

 **A/N: Well, this chapter sure did take a while, and I'm so sorry! I know you've all been waiting patiently, so here it finally is! I'm crying, I love all of your guys' support over this book! (My inbox has been blowing up, bless your souls) Anyways, here it is!**

 **Read on, reader, and Enjoy!**

My roommate never came last night, and I was beginning to wonder what was going on with him. Did his ride break down on its way to the campus? I didn't matter much to me, but his disappearance seemed a bit odd. I hopped out of bed like usual, gazing out of the window at the campus below.

Shiro's words from yesterday still rang in my head, 'Take some time to figure it out. You have four more years together with Lance to figure things out.' and he was right. I needed to just cool off and let things settle down.

Taking my clothes for the day and my bag of shower supplies, I headed down to the showers which were on the second floor. It was strange that they couldn't just put showers on every floor, so I wouldn't have any possibility of running into Lance, but I guess I would have to live with it. I put up with Lance most of the time, right?

Opening the door to the room slightly, I peered in to see if I could spot Lance in there. When I didn't, I opened the door and saw that only one person was using a shower at the moment. _I swear to God if that person is Lance…_ Taking no time in seeing if it was or not, I hopped in the shower closest to me. _In, and out. Simple. No one will see me, I won't see him._ But as I thought those words there was a sinking feeling in my gut I would see Lance before the day was done.

Turning on the faucet, I let my long hair get drenched and fall where it wanted, letting it cover my eyes. Maybe if I could just stay here… Then I would never have to see Lance again. That was crazy talk! Shiro told me the only way to fix things was to let things settle, take time from each other, but did that mean I had to avoid Lance entirely?

Surely not, but if we did see each other, maybe I could… try to start a conversation? The thought of talking first to someone scared me. I was always so afraid to talk to someone and have it coming out wrong. Like, thinking of saying, 'good morning' and 'how are you' at the same time, but then have it come out 'how good you morning?'. It's happened more than once.

Finally wiping the wet hair from my face, I washed off and took the towel hanging on the rack and tied it around myself. After that shower I felt more… refreshed. It could be a good thing, since that meant if I saw Lance I would be calm, cool, and…

"Hi!" A voice startled me and my thoughts even before I looked to see who it was. Looking at the voice directly now, I saw that it was the guy from the diner! What was his name… Thor? Look? It didn't matter much, seeing as he scared me almost to death! Couldn't heh tell I was thinking major and important life things at the moment?

"W-Were you just waiting out here?" I said, rushing my words. After I said them, I realized he most likely wasn't waiting out there, and just bumped into me on his way out.

He laughed a cool laugh, "No, but I ran into your friend from the diner before I went to shower. Lance, was it?"

I could feel my cheeks flush at the sudden appearance of _his_ name in our conversation. Good thing I had just missed Lance, because I don't think I could've handled seeing him right now. Wait, was I blushing?! Just from hearing his name?! Turning away from the guy from the diner to hide my face, I said, "I don't know if that was him. Probably wasn't… He's probably in his room crying…"

As soon as the words left my mouth, I instantly realized that's probably what Lance was doing after he came over to my room yesterday. He had tears in his eyes… Had I really hurt him? Tears wanted to come out of me now, but I willed myself to be strong. The heat had finally left my face and I turned back to the diner guy.

"Oh, wow… Sorry about that, I didn't know. That must've been why he ran off in such an angry way." He looked down, ashamed of what he had said.

What had he said to Lance? Lance was usually so cool about his emotions… Had I really affected him that much? He had just wanted to chat and get to know me, but I had pushed him away. I had… hurt him. "Uh, thanks, Lok." His name slipped out of my mouth, suddenly remembering it. "But I, uh, have to check up on him."

I started to leave, when Lok said, "If you don't mind me saying, you guys look cute."

Stopping in my tracks, not even turning to look at him, I simply said, "We aren't dating." And I quickly left, not wanting to waste any more time there. Something inside of me compelled me, pushed me, to go and comfort Lance. I wasn't one to offer support, but with Lance… I had hurt him. It was my responsibility. If Lance didn't want it, the least I could do was say sorry, and talk to him a little. Separation like this… Between people, between us, wasn't healthy.

Halfway through the hallway on my way to Lance and Hunk's room, I realized I hadn't put clothes on. I could go back to the showers… But I didn't want to miss my chance at seeing Lance. I really wanted to put this all behind us, like I did with most the things he'd done to me our High School years, so it didn't matter what I looked like. I just needed to apologize.

Reaching his door, (and getting several odd glances from people passing by) I knocked on the wood, calling out softly, "Lance? Are you in there? It's… It's me. Keith. I just want to…"

The door swung silently open, revealing Lance, who looked a little shocked to see me. "Keith? What are you doing here?" He looked down a little and saw I had just a towel on, and said, "And where are your clothes?!"

Rushing me in his room, I said, "I just came from the showers and needed to talk to you… We can't just not talk to each other!"

As if not listening to me, Lance threw some of his clothes at me. "Put some of these on for now. People would think you're crazy if you just walked around with a towel on!"

I looked at the clothes I now had in my hands. "Lance… These are your clothes…"

"Yeah, yeah, I just don't want you to go back to your room looking like that. People would stare at you, like they were just now in the hallway."

As if nothing had happened the day before, he was talking to me like a friend. He wasn't acting all big, arrogant, and jokingly like usual, but more like someone who cared about me. Was it weird how much I wanted to hug him right then and there?

"Thanks, Lance." Was all I could say. There wasn't anything awkward between us anymore, but more of a cool and calm understanding. Earlier today I wanted to stay away from him as much as I could, but now there was a slight urge to talk to him. He was just such a nice guy to talk to and be around in general. Sure, I had a crush on him, but that shouldn't change things. I heard some good advice from Shiro once, that communication is important in any relationship, whether it be a friendship, or a romantic one. Who knows what our would turn out to be?

Communication is important.

Maybe I should tell him how I feel? No. I couldn't let my guard down, even for Lance. Even if I liked him. He would need to say it first. I highly doubted he liked me, from the way he didn't recognize my advances and how he acted around me most of the time. Most of the time. Now seemed... different. He seemed a bit more open to what I had to say. How I felt. He even gave me his clothes so I wouldn't be looked at weird in the hallways around school.

"No problem, Keith." He answered back. Before he added his next sentence, his face got pretty red. "I can, uh, look away while you change, or, something."

My face turned just as red as Lance's as I realized that we were in a small room with no other places to change in. "Oh, um, uh…" I stuttered out. Thinking of places I could change, I realized Lance could just go out in the hallway while I did. "Maybe you could, um, go outside of the room?"

Lance nodded, "Okay. I wouldn't want you to walk all the way down to the showers and have people looking at you. Yell out to me once you're done." He gave me a slight smile, and stepped out of the room.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief, sitting down on Lance's bed. Why was he being so nice, really? We had just had a falling out the other day, so why wasn't he angry with me? When I knocked on his door, he hadn't wondered why I was there or anything, but instead gave me clothes? His clothes?! I looked at the clothes he had given me, seeing that they weren't exactly like the ones he was wearing. Wow, he didn't have the same clothes for everyday like he said. He had given me a plain white t-shirt and jeans, along with a simple red hoodie with black streaks on it. Wait… I remembered that hoodie from somewhere! It was mine!

How had Lance gotten it? I hadn't seen this hoodie ever since… I gasped a little. Ever since the track meet last year! It had been a super cold spring day, and Lance forgot his usual brown jacket at school. Shiro had bought me the hoodie a few days ago, and I really like the design. Seeing that Lance was cold, I offered it to him. Taken aback, Lance's face became red against the cold weather, and he accepted it quickly, telling me how it probably wouldn't be that warm.

After he took it, we waited until his heat came up, the 1500 meter, and he kept it with him. He ran with it. The hoodie was at the back of my mind, as I just thought of how good he looked in it. It complimented his blue eyes in a strange way, and I felt my face heat up as I saw him run. He looked at me in the stands and gave me a thumbs up before he ran, and I replied with the same.

We sat together on the bus home, when he offered the hoodie back to me. I declined it, saying he could keep it. We were far from our high school, and it was getting late, so he fell asleep after a while, leaning his head on my shoulder.

That was where I first realized my crush on him. A cold spring day where a boy accepted my hoodie, was the day I fell in love with Lance McClain.

"You almost done in there?" Lance called in from the hallway, knocking me out of my memories.

"Um, yeah!" I yelled out, putting on the clothes quickly. I opened the door, revealing Lance's face.

He looked at the outfit on me, and said, "Oh, wow…" he rubbed the back of his neck, "You… look good. It, uh, suits you." He turned only the slightest of pinks as he quickly added, "You know, because that hoodie's yours! You gave it to me in the spring, and I thought I'd give it back to you now…"

I could see he was complimenting me in the smallest ways, but it didn't mean anything, right? "Yeah, I know. Thanks again, Lance." I know? I know?! How dumb was I? He gave me back the hoodie I _gave_ to him, and I say I know that I gave it to him? "I mean, I, uh…"

My stammering was cut short by two arms suddenly enveloping me.

Lance was… hugging me? This wasn't like him, he never was so open with these things! He was… He…

He seemed to want to calm me down, whispering, "You don't need to speak. Just be here, with me."

I melted into him, hugging him back. It all seemed like a dream. Lance was hugging me? I was hugging him back? I always thought of how this would feel, but it was so much more.

A few questions nagged at my mind. Why did Lance hug me, why was he acting so nice, and why did I like him so much?

 **A/N: Well, how did you all like the fluff? Comment and tell me what you thought! It has been a month since I've written on this, so tell me everything! The good, the bad, the whatever! I'm here for whatever and bring it on!**

 **Check out my ao3: Lapis4Life**

 **and my Wattpad: Hashtagmrfluff**

 **Love you guys!**

 **Finn**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Lance

 **A/N: Omg guys… #245 in Science Fiction on Wattpad… I can't… This is just so amazing! Your support and love from the last few chapters has been amazing, and your praise is just so heartwarming! I don't deserve it, really, but I love you all anyways!**

I didn't know why I was hugging Keith, but I did know why I was being so nice to him. It was because he deserved it. He came over to my room, with nothing on but a towel, just to talk to me!

A few seconds into the hug, I realized that my cool guy pseudo would be ruined if I let Keith know I had a soft spot for him! So I let go, half of me wanting to keep hugging the cute boy in my room, and the other half willing to break away. Trying to come up with an explanation for Keith so that the hug didn't seem weird, I said, "Uh, you looked sad, so I, uh, hugged you for a bit?"

The old me would've never wanted to hug Keith, but after what happened yesterday, and my new feelings for him, I had to relieve some of that weight from my shoulders. How did he feel about the hug? Did he… like it? No, no. Keith hates any interaction between people, especially me. I'm on his nerves all the time and…

I realized I probably looked really weird thinking to myself in front of Keith, so I pushed my crazy thoughts to the side and just sat on my bed. I looked at Keith, who seemed to still be in shock, sitting down next to me with a shocked look on his face. (Maybe that's why he looked shocked)

We both had no words. He never responded to my last comment, and just sat next to me on my bed. There was barely any space between us, but just enough not to make it weird. It seemed like we were both on edge, if not both of us, then just me, because I willed myself to sit up straighter. Keith slightly glanced over at me, but then turning to face the opposite wall as soon as he noticed me looking at him.

After a bit more of sitting, I relaxed a little, reminding myself that he was my friend, and we shouldn't act weird around each other just because of a little hug. A friendly hug. A normal, friendly gesture.

Keith opened his mouth to say something, but quickly clamped it back shut. Noticing this, I asked him, "What? What were you going to say? You said we needed to talk, so what is it?"

He shook his head, turning in the opposite direction of me. "I… I can't. Not right now." Without anymore say about it, he crossed his arms, still not looking at me.

I wanted to reach out, to touch his shoulder and tell him he could tell me anything. That we were friends. Knowing that would be a little much at the moment, I just said, "You can tell me anything, Keith. We're friends. I know I may act a little… Immature around you sometimes and joke a little too much, I-"

Keith cut me off, saying, "I like you."

Catching me off-guard with his comment, I replied, "Wh-What?" I was speechless. He couldn't mean… he like liked me? No, we were friends. Just friends. And if he was serious… I was just at a loss for words.

He had gotten up now, putting his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, his entire body turned away from me. "I… I'm going to go now." He said, turning the knob of the door.

I wanted him to stay. I wanted to say something… Something to make him not feel bad. I… No. I couldn't say that. I liked him too, but saying it outloud to him would be too hard.

Something in the back of my mind was yelling, God damn it Lance, quick, before the love of your life gets away! I wouldn't have said 'love of my life' myself, but I did feel pretty strongly for Keith, and I couldn't stand to see him like that, thinking he'd said something wrong. "Wait." I told him, standing up off the bed.

The door had remained closed and he hadn't left yet, but I could see the fear in his eyes, wondering what was to come next, what I would say. In fact, I didn't know what I was going to say either. I wanted to say so many things, say everything I was thinking. The guy I used to be, the one that picked on Keith constantly, was still in me. It was still as much a part of me as the new part of me was. The part that respected Keith and wanted to get to know him more. They conflicted in me in a bad way, making me want to be friends with him, truly this time, and also mess with him like I always do.

One thing for certain, was that all of me liked him. If we were ever to move forward with anything, I would need to put the side that laughed at Keith away, and bring out the one that respected him. I could find a compromise between both, because that was who I was. Taking out one whole part of myself wouldn't work, I'd have to take parts out of both sides of me, stop them from fighting inside of me all the time.

The first step in doing that would be to tell Keith. I'd need to work up the courage to tell him, before he left the room hating himself for telling me he liked me, because I didn't want to see him like that, and I didn't want him to leave before I told him I liked him too. Not just for him, but for my sake. I would go crazy with the thought of him and how I didn't tell him there and then.

"I like you too." The words finally slipped past my lips. As soon as they did, I froze. I didn't know what would happen next, how Keith would respond.

His face grew questioning, and he said, "I hope you aren't joking, because I'm being… serious, Lance."

I gulped. He didn't believe me! How would I convince him? I grew frantic. He always saw me as the guy who joked around with him, made fun of him, and was just a jerk to. How would I really convince him? Maybe… Maybe just talking would work? He told me communication was important, what time would be better to talk than now?

"I am. I really do like you. Like, like you, like you." I looked around the room, my palms getting sweaty. What if he didn't buy it? What would I do then?

Keith must've seen my panic, because he gasped a bit, "Oh my God… You aren't kidding… I-I…" His eyes were the ones that started to go wild now, trying to focus on me, but inevitably failing and looking elsewhere. "You… You've never acted like this… You would always just joke after something that needed to be serious, but now…"

Unconsciously, I stepped towards him. "I want to be better. I don't want to joke about things with you. You deserve to be respected, Keith. I want to learn to be more serious, interact with people better…" I swallowed. "F-For you."

We were inches away from each other now, and Keith chuckled. "Oh my God… You never stutter! You're totally serious!" He shoved me a little, not enough to push me over, but more of… a playful push? Was Keith… Flirting with me?! Sure, he might not be able to tell what flirting was, but did he even know how to flirt? Did he even know he was flirting with me right now?!

His cute chuckle made me crack a smile too, and soon we were laughing for almost no reason. His hair fell over his eyes, and when we finished laughing hysterically, he brushed it out of the way and revealed his blue eyes yet again. My cheeks lit on fire, but this time I didn't turn away from him. I wanted him to see I was being serious, whether he believed me yet or not.

His smile faded, and it was turn to turn red. "Your face… You're b…"

I put a finger to his lips. "I know I am, but so are you."

Looking down at my finger now on his mouth, he swatted it away. "Don't touch my lips!" The blush faded from his face and he laughed his beautiful laugh, a perfect mix of deep and higher pitched sounds. "I really like talking to you." He said. "It's not like other people. You respect me, but make it fun at the same time."

I smiled. "It's nice just talking for once. When we're in the main group, it's like I just… have to joke around and be funny for everyone's sake, you know? When I'm one-on-one with someone, like we are now, I get to mellow out a little. It's nice."

Sitting back down on the bed, I kept my smile pointed at him. He smiled back for once, and sat right next to me, no space in between us. He quickly saw how close we were sitting and moved to accommodate. "What… What do we do now?"

Laying back and crossing my hands behind my head, I told him, "We continue like normal. The only thing different now is we know a little more about each other. It's what we choose to do with it that will change things." I said it so plainly, so simply, but I knew it wouldn't be that easy. I didn't know how open I would be about being with… Keith… possibly in the future. What would Pidge and Hunk think of it? My parents? Shiro?! I'd only talked to him when I went over to Keith's houses a few times, so I didn't know how he would react.

"Don't we have class at 11?" Keith asked me, causing me to sit up and look at the alarm clock on my end table.

It read 10:43.

"We do! What's your first class?" I asked him, rushing to stand up and grab my stuff for class. "You need to get your stuff for class from your room, which is way upstairs, and…"

Keith got up now, and put a finger to my lips. It was a gentle reminder of when I did it to him, but he also seemed to have to say something to me. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. If I'm late, the teacher probably won't care. It's the first day.'

After he finished, he did something I wasn't expecting.

He hugged me.

"Wha-what?" I tried to say, but Keith cut me off.

"I like that you care about me." He whispered in my ear, lingering for a second until he went to the door and opened it, saying, "Get to class quick, I'll be fine. I'll talk to you later?"

"Oh, um, yeah!" I responded, still shocked from the ambush-hug he'd given me.

He smiled, a twinkle in his blue eyes, "Sounds like a date." and left.

Wait, date?!

 **A/N: Oof, things are really heating up with our little cinnamon rolls! Finally, confessing their love to one another and growing as people... *fights back tears* They grow up so fast! Anywho, I hope you all have (or had) lovely days, and I'll see you next chapter!**

 **Check out my ao3 and Tumblr: Lapis4Life**

 **And my Wattpad: Hashtagmrfluff**

 **Love you all,**

 **Finn**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Keith

 **A/N: Guys. We did it. We hit 1000 reads. #202 in Science Fiction. I have no words. It's the tenth chapter, and take it. Just, take it. You deserve it. I love you all for your wonderful support, and look forward to what comes in the next chapter.**

As soon as I was out of Lance's room, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. It was hard keeping up a cool facade in front of him, actually, it was kind of tiring. Lanc tried to explain flirting to me before, but was that flirting I just did? I could never tell if someone else was flirting or if I was flirting, and it was beginning to become a problem.

That last comment I made, about it being a 'date', was just to get his goat. I wanted to see how he would react, but didn't realize I'd leave the room before I could. Shaking my head, I remembered that I had to get to class really fast, and that there was only a few minutes to do it.

Climbing back up the stairs to the third floor, I made my way to my room and like a speed-demon (whatever that is, Lance uses the phrase quite a bit) and grabbed everything I needed for my first class, which happened to be Engineering. Books, notebooks, and pencils to be exact. I told Lance he shouldn't worry about me, but God all I wanted in a stressful moment like this was a shoulder to lean on.

Shaking off that random thought of Lance, I picked up the pace some more and finally got everything I needed, rushing out of my dorm room door. In the hallway, a clock read 10:53. "Crap." I said under my breath. I would really need to kick it if I wanted to make it to class on time now.

Seemingly flying down the stairs, I made it to the first floor in no time, heading out the double doors and onto the campus grounds. Thank goodness the science build was located right next to the men's dorms, or I would've been really late. I slid into a random seat in the lecture room next to some random person right as the bell rang.

"Cutting it a bit close, it seems?" A male voice next to me said.

Worn out from exhaustion and not wanting to talk to new people, I gave him a shrug and took out my books for class.

The voice sighed, "I know it was a bit uncalled for, for me to just barge into you like that in the showers, but I really was just trying to start up some conversation. I didn't know you'd be so… afflicted by it."

Finally looking up at the voice, I saw the face of Lok looking at me. He was the one who had confronted me in the bathroom and asked me about Lance. That was back when we were still at odds, so he had gotten some false information from me. What was the conversation even about? I forget things too much, too easily. It was beginning to be a problem.

Without answering, I shrugged. Hopefully that would convey the message that I didn't care. Because I didn't. Lok had appeared at the diner, if I remember correctly, and met us all. Why was that again? Why did he talk to us? Oh right, Pidge. He apparently liked her and that was why he talked to us. If we had never gone to the diner, he wouldn't be hounding me at school, wondering if Lance and I were together.

He chuckled a bit, then said, "You're one of a kind." shaking his head, he continued, "If it's any consolation, I'm sorry for assuming about you and Lance. I shouldn't get involved in situations I don't know about previously."

In response, I shrugged, but this time I responded, specifically to his 'one of a kind' bit. "What's that supposed to mean?"

His expression grew confused and he cocked his head to the side, "What do you mean? It was exactly what I said, I'm sorry for assuming things."

"No no no," I shook my head, "The thing about me being one of a kind? What's that supposed to mean?" After that, I realized something; I was talking to someone. Without assistance from the group! Had talking to Lance more in the past day really changed things that much, that quickly?

"Oh!" He realized out loud, "Um, nothing really, just you shrugged twice without answering and I found that kind of strange, but cool."

"Yeah, he is really cool." I heard a very familiar voice defend me from behind me, making me turn around to look right into their face. It was Lance.

I felt my face heat up at the sight of his trademark smirk, and I turned away from Lok and Lance, looking straight down. "Hey Lance." Lok said to Lance, who had just sat down in the chair next to me. Had Lance willingly sat next to me? He would never in a million years have done that! "I was just explaining to Keith how I was sorry about confronting you both in the showers earlier."

Lance waved him off, "It's all cool. Keith and I are good now." He patted me, quite awkwardly, on the back.

I gave him a look for touching me, and Lance quickly took his hand off of me. Letting Lance do the talking, I sat back in my chair, closing my eyes.

"I am still, really sorry for making assumptions. Is there any way I can make up for it?" Lok asked.

"I'll get back to you on that." Lance said. Shaking me gently, he whispered, "The teacher is here, Keith. Stop sleeping, you slacker."

Opening my eyes, I saw his smirk, which made me smile. I saw his face light up red and he turned away from me, removing his hand from my shoulder. Before his hand could fully retract, I placed mine on his. I wasn't too sure why I did it, but maybe it was because we'd never held hands before and I wanted to see what it felt like?

Realizing that I was probably rushing things, I quickly took away my hand and looked towards the whiteboard in the front of the room, where I found Shiro standing. Why was Shiro in my classroom? Oh, right, he was a professor and taught Engineering. Duh.

"Good morning everyone!" Shiro's voice boomed across the room, startling a few who weren't prepared to hear that loud of a voice. "I bet you're all excited to kick of the new school year, filled with plenty of possibilities to achieve your future goals."

He continued with his speech, trying to lighten the mood and make everyone excited about school, which never seemed to work. Meanwhile, I snuck glances at Lance throughout class, still looking to see his reaction to the hand holding. Had I taken things too far, too fast?

At one point, he must've caught me sneaking glances at him, so he looked over at me. He saw the worry in my face and immediately leaned over, asking, "Are you okay? Do I have something in my teeth?" he then laughed a little and smiled a huge smile, rubbing his face in mine.

A small small chuckle rose up and out of me, and I covered my mouth with my hand, "Quiet, we don't want to get in trouble." I whispered, as quietly as I could.

Shaking his head, he crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat, trying to look cool. I followed suit, listening to the rest of Shiro's speech. Once he finished, there was a good fifteen minutes of class left, and the clock read 11:45. "I'm going to hand out a list of what we'll be doing in class this year, and our first project will be a simple structural assignment."

My dad made his way around the room, and everyone seemed to be packing up, so I started to grab my books and pencils, when Lance took them before I could. "Ha!" He shouted in my face, "Now you have no choice but to let me carry your books for you!"

Not understanding, I asked, "Lance, what are you doing?" because I certainly didn't know what he was doing.

He scoffed at me, "What do you mean? I'm carrying your books for you. Showing you I can be nice."

"You don't even know if we have the same class together next! And besides, it's in like, an two hours. We have lunch." I pointed out to him, still not fully understanding why he needed to carry my books.

"I just want to carry your books because I like you, okay? Do you really need it spelled out for you?" He said, waving his arms, with my books in them, around.

Taken aback, I said, "R-really?" I could feel my face heat up for what seemed like the thousandth time that day.

"Well, hello boys. Nice to see you're both in my first hour class." Shiro snuck in, slipping us both sheets of paper. "This is going to be a fun year." He sighed, delivering more papers to other aisles of students.

Once he was out of range, Lance turned back to me. He laughed a little, pointing out, "You're blushing."

"Wha-what?" I struggled to hide my face with my hoodie, only then realizing that Lance could see my face.

He laughed a genuine laugh, and said, "Just take my hand."

That sure snapped me out of it. "What?"

"You heard me. You tried to hold it before, so I supposed that you wanted to. Now's your chance." I could see his face slowing turning red as well. What was up with all of the blushing today?

Should I take his hand? Was it okay with him? Well, clearly it was okay with him, so what was I afraid of? Moving to fast? It was just hand holding, and if it came to anything I could plainly tell him I didn't want to move so fast, right?

Knowing that Lance really cared and respected me, I figured there was really nothing to worry about, and I took his hand. It must've took him by surprise, because he just about dropped my books. Not saying anything, the bell rang and we walked out of class. I glanced around for any onlookers, such as Shiro or Lok, when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Keith, it's fine. You don't need to worry about what anyone else thinks. All you need to care about is how much I care for you."

He removed his hand from my shoulder, and I smiled at him. His face lit up in a huge smile as well, making me laugh. He joined in as we walked down the hallway, not caring what anyone else thought of us.

That was, until I saw Pidge and Hunk staring at us from the opposite side of the hall. "Hunk, you owe me ten dollars." Pidge told her big friend.

 **A/N: You all deserve that fluff for sticking by me all this way, thank you for a great ten chapters and 1000 reads.**

 **Check out my Wattpad: Hashtagmrfluff**

 **and Tumblr and ao3: Lapis4Life**

 **Love you all,**

 **Finn**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 - Lance

 **A/N: Wow has it been a while! Welcome back everyone and thank you for sticking with me! How long has it been since the last chapter... Five? Six months? That's insane! This chapter may need a little backstory first though: I wrote most of it months ago but never finished, so I recently picked it up in the spot you'll see below, I place an author's note there so you guys don't freak out if the style changes.**

 **As always I love you all and read on!**

Keith and I immediately broke apart, basically stepping to opposite sides of the hallway as soon as we saw Pidge and Hunk. What would they think? Was my reputation ruined?! I could feel myself being to get nervous, and I looked over at Keith who was looking at me, actually a little worried. Could he tell I was nervous about us around Pidge and Hunk? Well, clearly he did, since I let go of his hand and got as far away from him as I could. Oh, that sounds worse when I say it over.

Hunk handed over the ten dollars Pidge asked him for, and she pocketed it with a smile. "Well, well, well. I see I turned out to be right." She walked up to me with a smirk that shockingly looked like one of mine.

My eyes darted around the area, trying to look at anything but her or Hunk. "Wh-what do you mean? Nothing happened!" Oh god, I was stressing out way too much! What happened to the cool, calm, and collected guy I usually was?!

"Sure they didn't. And I just didn't see you two holding hands." She pointed between us two. She started to walk away, and called to us, "I don't care what you guys are, I'm just here to say it's cute."

Hunk followed behind her, giving us a wave goodbye, quickly catching up to Pidge. I was surprised he hadn't put his two cents in about the whole situation.

Looking at Keith, my eyes darted again. If Pidge saw us, who else could see us in the future? I told Keith before it didn't care who looked at us, but now I was starting to doubt my advice to him. Do as I say, not as I do, right? It didn't really help if I was one half of the relationship I was giving him advice to and I wasn't following my own advice. If he was listening to my advice, but I wasn't, then how would our relationship work?

Maybe I was just overthinking things. Or maybe I should follow my own advice. I wasn't sure, but all I was sure of was my feelings towards Keith, even if it was still hard for me to admit them.

One thing I knew for certain, was Keith looked really cute. Was I allowed to say that about him now? That he was cute? I shook off the dumb thought and went over to him, his mouth slightly open, his blue eyes staring into mine. We didn't say anything, just took his hand and continued down the hallway, ignoring any weird glances we might've gotten. "So, where are we going now?" I looked at the clock, reading the time as 12:07. "Lunch?"

He nodded, closing the gap between us. Why was he getting so close? It was fine, but why? We'd known each other for a few years, but rushing into things might not be a super great idea. I didn't know how he felt on the whole situation, but I edged away from him just a bit, still maintaining our handhold. "I'd like some lunch." He said with only a tinge of awkwardness. Did he find it weird we were _together_ eating lunch for lunch?

I mean, we ate together before and it wasn't weird, so why would this, _us_ , change anything? I could see where he was coming from though… it was just a little awkward, but it didn't matter as long as I was with him. The old me would never have said that, which kind of frightened me. Was Keith making me soft? Oh God, all of these questions would need to be answered eventually. Maybe I could talk to Keith about them? Would it be weird, or would he have the same questions? We were rivals for so long… It would be hard to get those feelings behind me, to let room in for these new feelings I was having.

The first thing I needed to do was to relax, accept things with Keith as they were. Pidge didn't care what we did, so why should I? Maybe I would text her, ask her to eat lunch with us. Then she could help us and me figure things out. It wasn't a terrible idea, but I'd have to ask Keith first. He was the one I was going to lunch with. A guy. _Keith._ Together.

"So, uh, Keith…" I started to question him, "Should we invite Hunk and Pidge to eat with us?" hopefully he didn't think I was trying to put our friends between us so it wouldn't be awkward. If anything, they might make it _more_ awkward.

Surprising me, he gave a simple, "Sure." and shrugged. A smile had seemed to be on the edge of his lips ever since we'd started holding hands. Did he really not care what anyone else said or thought? He seemed really content with this, _us._ Maybe I was stressing a little too much.

Instead of just turning to face forward, I gave him a smile and _then_ turned forward. Hopefully he could see that I was attempting to put the past behind us. Of course, he'd told me before that the past didn't matter and that it was all behind us, but I just wanted to reassure it. Maybe to him, maybe to myself, maybe to others, it didn't matter. Maybe it was all behind us. There would still have to be a bit of growing for the both of us to do, but we'd get through it.

Together.

Stepping into the cafeteria, the smell of several varieties of lunches wafted to my nose, and I smelled the air. It was a mixture of meat, breakfast food, and just a plain old building smell. Garrison University offered so much, they even had breakfast at lunchtime! I loved it so much.

I could feel eyes peering at us, _the newcomers,_ I suspected they were thinking. My grip loosened from Keith's, but that only made him hold mine tighter. "It's okay, Lance. You said yourself that it doesn't matter what others think." And he was right. Maybe it was time to take my own advice and ignore anyone else.

Reinvigorated, I held his hand tighter and slightly jumped as we made our way to the line of people waiting for food. "Lance!" Keith laughed just a little, even some of his teeth showing! "Slow down!" dragging him behind me, our arms stretching just to keep on holding the other's hand.

"But _Keith_." I stopped in my tracks to look at him, faking a serious look. "It's _breakfast food._ The best food ever invented. We have to get it while it's hot!"

He shook his head, "Lance. If the food goes, then it's replaced by new, hot stuff. It'll be hot no matter how long we take." he explained to me.

For once Keith was the logical one?! Usually _I_ had to stop him from tearing into someone that had bothered him or me, Pidge, or Hunk, but his words had a point. The food would always be there, but how long would the _breakfast_ food be there?! "Keith, what about the best food ever? It's lunch, so it could be gone soon! And besides, I'm starving!"

Keith shook his head and sighed, "Fine, we can go fast now."

"Nah, the moment for being fast is ruined. Besides, I like just walking slow and savoring my time with you." I slid a small flirt in.

Although I was unsure he even got the flirt, because he didn't even blush and just said, "I like being with you too?"

Laughing a bit, I motioned him forward and we stepped in the back of the line. Grabbing our trays, we moved along and separated. I guess we couldn't hold hands _and_ hold plates at the same time. First up was the breakfast foods, including hashbrowns, pancakes, sausages, biscuits… The whole shebang! I piled my plate with the glorious food, but Keith only grabbed a biscuit. He was probably getting normal lunch food. I couldn't blame him, normal people did that. I, however, wasn't normal, and grabbed butter and syrup packages.

Later down the line Keith grabbed the chicken sandwich they were serving along with some fries on the side. Generic Keith, am I right? Once we were settled, I set my plate down and took out my phone, bringing up Pidge's name.

 _Lance: We r at lunch. Wanna eat with us?_

Pidge took no time in responding, (she always had her phone in hand) and said,

 _Pidge: Oooo, us?_

I didn't try to hide it anymore, and just told her,

 _Lance: Yes. Would you like to or not?_

 _Pidge: Duh. I'm waving at u rn_

I looked up to see a small Pidge waving at Keith and I. How she got to the lunchroom before us was a mystery, but there she and Hunk were. I pointed them out to Keith and he nodded, following me over to them.

We put our trays down on the opposite side of our friends and sat in unison at the table. "I'm starving for this breakfast food! For lunch!" I told them, excitedly digging into the items on my plate. Keith ate his chicken sandwich methodically, eating, chewing, not talking at all. He just focused on his food and no one else, seeming intent on getting his meal done before conversing.

Pidge only stared at us, making me wonder why she was doing so. "What's up Pidge?" I asked her, setting down my fork.

"You two… Are too natural. What happened between you two?" She questioned.

I was about to answer when Keith just casually set his sandwich down and simply said, "We talked."

Not satisfied with his answer, Pidge's looked grew stranger, and she pursued more in depth. "About what?"

Growing more afraid something would come up about us, I spoke up, "He just said it! We talked, Pidge. That's all that happened."

She smiled, laughing a little. "Lance, I know you well enough now that something _did_ happen. Whenever I bring you and Keith up, you get nervous, anxious, maybe even a bit _afraid._ " She stressed the last word, breaking through my wall.

Did she know everything? I knew she was good with logical things, but was it that obvious?

 **A/N: This is where I picked up the story, remember: the style may be a little different! :D**

"We talked Pidge, why do you have to blow things out of proportion?" I half-yelled at her throwing my hands up in the air.

"Yeah," She raised her eyebrows, "I blow things out of proportion says the one literally exploding into the air with his hands."

She was right. I would need to come clean eventually but I wouldn't until Keith and I reached a- "We kissed, happy?" Keith cut off my thoughts and sliced through me with a knife.

Pidge's expression grew wide and she clung to Hunk's arm in excitement as my heart sank into my stomach. "Keith…" I tired to input my response before Keith raised a hand to stop me.

"She would've learned eventually and if we really want to be happy, we needed to tell them." Keith told me, straight faced. He put a hand on my shoulder and almost instantly I relaxed. God he was cute. Oh wow, before I would've shied away from even thinking that phrase but now that Pidge and Hunk knew about us I could just… say it out loud!

Mustering up my courage I smiled brightly and slightly stuttered out, "Thanks Keith. You're so cute and calming." my face was most likely bright red and I could see Keith's face also gaining a darker hue.

He laughed and moved his hand from my shoulder to side of my face and giving me a quick kiss. "So a-are you." He said. Damn, I thought he was usually so collected but I guess my charms were too much for him this time. Oh, and I was completely blushing at this point.

Meanwhile, Pidge and Hunk were dying from happiness. "We knew you two would get together! Well, I doubted it but Hunk was right!" Pidge exclaimed.

"I was, wasn't I?!" Hunk cried incredulously. "I was right! Ha!"

Amidst the Jubilee I looked over at Keith and realized that everything would be okay. I had no idea what I was worrying about.

 **A/N: Well that was a fairly quick wrap up for the chapter, but I hope you all enjoyed! I'm actually just getting back into the swing of writing so I'm sorry if it sucks as I'm not even that experienced in writing, but again, I hope you enjoy what I do! Thanks for helping inspire me to finish the chapter.**

 **Hopefully the next one won't take as long to write...**

 **Wattpad: SageErickson**

 **Tumblr: Lapis4Life**

 **Ao3: Lapis4Life**

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 **Sage (Changed my name)**


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